Cincinnati acquired Marshall in December for left-hander Travis Wood, outfielder Dave Sappelt and infielder Ronald Torreyes. At the time, it seemed like maybe a tad too much for an admittedly very good reliever, but one who would be a free agent after the 2012 season. However, the idea that Marshall would be open to an extension makes the deal make more sense.

"We're obviously very excited about it," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty told reporters, including MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. "When we made the trade for him, we made it intending to extend him. We felt confident we would do that. We wanted to approach it sooner than later. Our goal was to try and get it done before the start of camp, or at least before we started playing games. We did get it done before the games."

Marhshall, 29, was 6-6 with a 2.26 ERA last season, appearing in 78 games and striking out 79 batters in 75 2/3 innings.

Marshall started his career as a starter, but has found his place as a reliever. In his two full seasons out of the bullpen, he's 13-11 with a 2.45 ERA and six saves with 169 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings.

Last season, he was good against right-handers, but death to lefties. Right-handers hit .249/.302/.297 against him -- hardly All-Star numbers -- but lefties were limited to just .206/.245/.258 against him, as he struck out 31 of the 104 lefties that he faced. The only home run he surrendered was to right-handed hitting Cody Ross.

Most of the time when a veteran comes to a new team and wants his jersey number from a younger player, that player will aks for a watch or a car or some other such nonsense. McCutchen, who wore No. 34 for the Pirates before A.J. Burnett came aboard, had a much better idea.

Instead of some trinket, McCutchen asked for Burnett to set up a CollegeAmerica 529 plan for the 29-year-old reliever's unborn daughter. And now Burnett wears No. 34 and McCutchen wears No. 25.

Of course, speaking as someone with a newborn daughter, I've certainly thought about what college will cost in 18 years. And then I cry and hope that some big-named blogger gets sent to CBSSports.com and wants my login name.

As an analyst at ESPN, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona is in a bit of an awkward spot when asked about his former team -- especially Monday when he was asked about Bobby Valentine's new ban on alcohol in the team's clubhouse.

Appearing on ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" show (via ESPN), Francona said he wasn't surprised the new manager nixed postgame beers after last season's late-season collapse that was blamed, in part, to starting pitchers drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games.

"I don't think it's a surprise that they put this in effect, or the fact they announced it," Francona said on Monday. "It's probably more of a PR move just because, you know, the Red Sox [took] such a beating at the end of the year."

He's right, it's mostly a PR move -- but one that probably had to happen. Francona also said he wasn't sure it would curb players drinking.

"I think if a guy wants a beer, he can probably get one," Francona said. "You know, it's kind of the old rule … If your coach in football says no hard liquor on the plane -- I mean, you serve beer and wine -- somebody's going to sneak liquor on the plane. If you furnish a little bit, it almost keeps it to a minimum."

Francona, though, stopped short of criticizing Valentine's decision.

"You look back at this, these are guys that earned my implicit trust," Francona said. "You know, guys that we had won World Series with.

"So I probably felt different about it than a new guy coming in. And he certainly has the right to do what he wants, because he is new, and that's why you get different people."

One of baseball's saddest stories of recent vintage may be coming to a close. Joel Zumaya, who suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament this weekend, is out for the season and sounds like a man who may retire.

"I know I'm young, but I'm going to probably be going on six surgery if I get another one," Zumaya said. "I'm only 27 years old and I've taken a lot of wear and tear on my body, especially my arm, and then rehab -- it's a lot out of you. So I have a little two-and-a-half-year-old; maybe it's time to move on. I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing…"

Zumaya said he hasn't made a decision yet, but he expects to do so soon.

"I went home, tried to make a decision -- I've got family here with me -- but it's a tough decision, so I'm going to go on within the next day or two and make a decision," Zumaya told reporters (again, via the Star Tribune). "I spoke to [Twins general manager] Terry [Ryan] and told him that I'll probably give him a call within the next 24 hours to determine if I'm going to get cut up or not."

I'm not sure you use the term "get cut up" if you're planning on having surgery. And at this point, who can blame Zumaya for not wanting to go through another surgery and rehab.

Of course, with that, the guy who called himself "china doll" go to have another surgery on his right elbow last May after making it through just one spring training outing last season. Zumaya then signed a one-year deal with the Twins. He will still be paid $400,000 this season, but it's unlikely he'll get another big-league deal even if he does try to come back again.

Ryan Zimmerman's 10 a.m. deadline passed with a contract extension with the Nationals and it appears his Saturday deadline will, as well. But that doesn't mean the two sides won't get a deal done.

Saturday night, Zimmerman's agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, said the two sides were close to a deal. Zimmerman is expected to sign an extension worth approximately $18 million per year -- but that was never the sticking point. Instead of money, Zimmerman wanted a no-trade clause that would keep the 27-year-old Virginia native in Washington.

"We have made significant progress on an extension for Ryan that would ensure he plays for the Nationals for a long time, which has always been Ryan's goal," Van Wagenen said. "We are working on a structure that will allow the team to continue to add talent and establish a winner, which is another goal of Ryan's.

"While there are still important aspects to work through, we bridged multiple important gaps on many major parts of a contract. Nothing is done until it is done, but both sides are optimistic than an agreement can be reached and Ryan can focus his energies on preparing with his teammates for the season."

Zimmerman has said he didn't want the extension -- which at one point this offseason Nats GM Mike Rizzo said was the team's top offseason priority -- to interfere with the team's preparation for the season. The team held its first full-squad workout on Saturday.

"All along, all I've wanted is to be able to stay with the Nationals, which I consider my hometown team, and help the franchise become a winner while also being compensated fairly," Zimmerman said. "While nothing is finalized, I am confident that we can reach an agreement that will accompish all those things. I'm from Virginia, I was drafted by the Nationals and I've seen this organization make great progress since I signed here. I want to see it through to the ultimate goal of winning a World Series."

Zimmerman was adamant that he receive a no-trade clause since he was willing to give the hometown discount. Jayson Werth received a no-trade clause in his monster deal last winter, while Mark Buehrle and Prince Fielder were reportedly offered no-trade clauses as part of the offers made to those free agents this winter.